Ladybugs, Gardening, HTML and Change

I feel a bit like this ladybug right now--about to spread my wings and take flight. I have been working very hard the past week on my own website. I opened a shop on Big Cartel in January. It was nice but it felt limited. I decided recently to move to Shopify. I have been able build a website there that is much more dynamic and beautiful and I can't wait to show it to you!

I am feeling positively nerdy with my newfound HTML skills. The internet is wonderful. You get stuck and a google search can help you out. Stubbornness helps. Curiosity is a motivator. For particularly puzzling problems, I turned to my two savvy daughters and a talented friend. Figuring out how to make HTML work for you is the closest thing I can think of to reading a mystery novel. The answer is there somewhere. You just have to find it.

For now, the shop links to the right will take you to a page letting you know that my website is under construction. I will post here and on Instagram and Facebook when I open it up. It will be sometime in the next few days.

I have been freshening my products listings for my new website so have been going through my very disorganized photo files this weekend (on my hard drive, memory cards and external drives). I found this fabulous photo today of a ladybug on my paint palette. It was taken two summers ago when I was painting outside at my parents' house in Muskoka. My mom and dad are in the process of moving from their year-round lakeside residence of almost twenty years (and the family cottage of about 35 years) to a new home in town. Lots of changes.

A couple of weeks ago, I took some new photos of my ladybug print. I did the original painting over 20 years ago and it is still one of my favourite watercolours. I have held on to the original. The print looks so much like it!

This gardening season, I have commited to redoing some of my product photography when the corresponding flowers are available in the garden. I love the combination of my paintings and prints with their real-life inspiration. 

Ladybugs, gardening, HTML and change. What my June is made of.

Ladybug art print ©Kathleen Maunder (Trowel and Paintbrush)

❤  ❤  ❤  ❤  ❤

Garden Lullaby

This week, I gave myself a gift. I took a break from my work and spent a day and a half in the garden getting it ready for winter. I often say "I need my garden and my garden needs me". It is without a doubt a reciprocal relationship. Whatever I give, I receive back in beauty, a rested mind and restored spirit.

I was lucky that the weather was unseasonably mild. It was perfect for gardening. There have been plenty of years when I have done end-of-season work while freezing. There have also been years where I have been completely surprised by early snow and have had to leave the garden in its messy state until spring.

I removed annuals from pots and flower beds. I trimmed a few perennials although I leave most of them intact until spring to serve as bird food and winter interest. I moved a few perennials to better places and cleaned up the vegetable garden. I was happy to find a small patch of violas still in bloom in the center of the veggie patch.

I always have mixed emotions at this time of year. There is sadness that the growing season has come to a close. At the same time, I feel a sense of peace with the quiet state of the garden and a sense of hope at what the next year will bring.

Some of the trees and shrubs are completely bare. Others still have bits of color.

Yesterday's sunshine provided me with a late-season encounter with a garden friend. A little ladybug took a tour around my garden-gloved hand before taking off.

Throughout, I worked under the thoughtful gaze of my garden supervisor.

I am hoping that the good weather holds out a bit longer. I have a big order of spring bulbs on its way to me. Their shipment was delayed and I won't be able to plant them until next week.  Keep your fingers crossed for me that they arrive before temperatures plunge!

When I See Clouds, I Think 'Painting'

I had a lovely day painting 'en plein air'.  I love painting outside although I don't find it to be easy. I paint slowly so a sky can change multiple times as I paint. But that's okay. My painting ends up being my impression of a period of time.

I was absolutely charmed by the sweet ladybug (above) who landed on my paint palette and then proceeded to crawl towards its colour family. :)

When I went outside, I said "Ooooo, look at that sky!" My sister said to me "You look at that sky and think 'painting'. I look at that sky and think 'rain'!"  In the end, it didn't rain. It was a beautiful cloudy afternoon.

Dock Cousins (and Mabel)

I have lost count of the beautiful Bookhou bags we own, but this one is perfect for transporting my watercolour pads, palette and paint brushes.

Muskoka afternoon sky

Dock dog: A tired but happy Meeko

Signs of Spring

Do you know how you can tell if I've been working on prints for my Etsy shop?  Well, I tend to be as grumpy as a bear and I uncharacteristically growl the odd four-letter word. I take Meeko for his walks while trying to ease my tense muscles and muttering aloud about throwing my computer and printer into the garbage. The past few days have been full of many ups and downs including a rebel green phase that my printer decided to go through at about noon today. Literally everything that it spit out was tinged with green. Everything.  I decided that it needed a nap and I needed a walk and that seemed to do the trick.

How do I feel when my machines have finally cooperated and my new prints are finished and up to my high standards? Relieved and happy!

How can you tell if I'm looking forward to spring? Every single print I added to my Etsy shop today included flowers! Yesterday I saw five robins at one time in our tree in the backyard. I'm not certain if it was a sure sign of spring or of mass avian confusion but it was a splendid, unusual sight to see.

Technology willing, I will have more new prints in my shop later this week. :)